In Good Company
by Aria6
Summary: Roxas is a new intern. Axel is an eccentric technical expert. How can he get the blonde to take him seriously? Especially when serious just isn't his strong suit...? And what is Xemnas plotting? Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

"Waaa-ter from the waaa-ter jug. Waaa-ter from the waaa-ter jug. Waaa-ter –"

"Bean Axel with the waaa-ter jug – can you please stop that?" Axel looked up from where he was filling up his bottle with a grin.

"Maybe. What you going to pay me?" He asked the man lounging against the water jug. Demyx shook his head before taking a drink from his paper cup. "Come on, I'm dead broke! Papa needs some new shirts." His current shirt was spotted with stains from past meals and badly wrinkled. His crooked tie did it's best to hide some of them but it was a loosing battle.

"You're broke because you spend everything." Demyx said with fair accuracy and Axel could only sigh. He reached up and patted the steampunk goggles on his forehead. Not many places would let him get away with wearing them. It was one of the things he treasured about this job. "So what have you been doing this morning?"

"Mmm, me? Playing World of Warcraft." Demyx made a face as Axel grinned. "I'm making a killing on the auction house. All my lovely gems, mmm, not to mention the monopoly I've got on the mithril." He'd turned mining the low level ores into a money making science. It was such a shame it didn't translate into any real money or he'd have been rich. "What have you been up to?"

"Working on the monthly report. I actually do work." Demyx said tartly as Axel shrugged. "Really, what do you do around here?"

"I'm here for whatever you need." Axel answered. It was nothing but the truth. If anyone in the company was having any kind of technical or software issue, he was the go-to person. "And I keep all the servers running as well as the air pumps and I even unblock toilets." Demyx laughed and Axel smiled, pleased. "Hell, I deserve a raise."

"Hah! You're such a slacker." Demyx sipped his water before speaking. "Have you seen the new intern yet?"

"Nah." Axel wasn't particularly interested. Interns came and went. All sunny and sweet to begin with they burned out quickly under Xemnas' demands. "Is he cute? Maybe I'll ask for a date." Demyx looked a little pained.

"He's cute but he acts like he's got a prickle-burr up his butt. He actually handles Xemnas pretty well." Demyx shrugged as Axel lifted an eyebrow. "We'll see how he does. He has the nicest blonde hair and blue eyes." Axel took a long swig from his water bottle then capped it with a flourish.

"Is he then? I'll have to pay a visit to intern corner. Well later Dem, Warsong Gulch awaits." Humming in a loud, tuneless fashion Axel walked back to his own office. He had an office largely because no one else in the company wanted to hear him when he worked. World of Warcraft was only the start of the obnoxious sounds he could make. Axel grinned as he thought about it. It had taken some work to create a customized set of alert sounds but they had been worth it. Especially the Defcon One setting. He'd nearly given Zexion a heart attack with that one.

The building they were housed in was very old. Axel reflected, not for the first time, that his job would be a lot easier if the boss was willing to put a bit of money into some renovations. But he was determined to expand the business in any way he could so all the money got reinvested, and Axel often kept things together with duct tape and super glue. It worked and he largely enjoyed it. It was nice working outside the box and getting things done with unconventional tools and parts. Axel was vaguely aware that it fixing a boiler with old automotive parts might be unusual and possibly illegal, but it worked so he didn't care.

Entering his office he glanced around with pride. His office was a haven dedicated to all his pet projects and obsessions. A half-dismantled air conditioner was propped against a wall. Propped on top was the coffee maker, which was perking away merrily. Papers were scattered all over his desk, there were errant piles on the floor and the drawers were full of even more. Most were private notes to himself that he could no longer decipher, but that was fine. Everything important was stored in his memory or his blackberry. Important things like passwords made it into the memory while little things like putting on his pants in the morning required the blackberry. Axel was vaguely aware that for most people it was the other way around but in his opinion that was their loss.

Flopping into his comfortable swivel chair, he was about to load up the grand ol' World of Warcraft when someone knocked at his door.

"Mwuh?" Axel blinked. Usually no one knocked. "I have pants on!" He called just for fun and a head cautiously poked in. "Oooo. My prayers have been answered!" He exclaimed as he saw a cute blonde head and wary blue eyes. "What's your name, treasure?"

Demyx had been understating the kids' cuteness. Axel gazed him over with frank admiration. He had to be at least eighteen for a job here but he looked more like fourteen. The elegant dress shirt, subdued tie and slacks made him look like a child playing grown up. His face was so sweet and angelic that Axel immediately wanted to kiss it.

"I'm Roxas." Belatedly, Axel realized the boy wasn't too pleased with his greeting. Oh well. Hardly anyone liked him on the first go. He was an acquired taste, like pickled eggs. "You must be Axel. I've heard about you." From his tone it wasn't good. Axel heaved a sigh and leaned back, tipping back his chair.

"It's all lies – mwuf!" He went a touch too far and the chair slid out from under him. Fortunately the piles of paper cushioned the impact. Unfortunately they went flying in a small blizzard of paper. "Oh god! Papercuts! I'm going to die!" Then he sprang up, grinning as Roxas looked at him in blank surprise. "Sorry, I'm a klutz. So what can I do for you?" Roxas stared as his computer made a sound like a car crashing. "Oh, that's just the main server crashing, don't worry about it."

"What?!" Roxas shook his head as he realized Axel was putting him on. The grinning was a dead giveaway. "Xemnas wants to know if you're finished compiling the data from the servers."

"Eh what?" Axel said blankly then turned to his desk. More papers went flying, along with candy wrappers and some mummified orange peels. "Ah! Yes! Here it is." Roxas took the paper gingerly. "Isn't it pretty?" Axel said proudly as Roxas looked in disbelief at a pie chart that appeared to have been baked by a hippy tripping on LSD. The bar and line graphs weren't much better. "He loves stuff like that. Looks all businesslike don't it?"

"Erm… sure." Roxas felt vaguely horrified as he realized Axel was serious. "The coffee ring sets it right off." He added weakly and Axel laughed, slapping him on the back.

"You got it kid! I can tell you're going far. Oh oh oh, tell Xemnas from me that if he doesn't replace that busted plunger in the woman's washroom I'm going to use it to plunge his blow up doll collection." Roxas took the dismissal and quickly showed himself out, feeling like he'd just escaped from a hurricane of energy. He'd never met anyone quite like that in his life, and he wasn't sure he wanted to again. If he'd glanced behind him he might have noticed Axel watching him with a goofy smile as he went to give the psychedelic pie chart to Xemnas.

But he didn't, and Axel went back to his desk to play games and plot.

"I want… a cute l'il boy… and his name is Roxas…" Axel paused in his singing and rubbed his face for a moment with one hand. "Buuuuut how?" He'd been shot down enough times in his life to know that it wouldn't necessarily be easy. Physically he was attractive but his personality was often enough to send people running. Roxas seemed a little tense. "I know! This calls for an office get together!" It had been ages since he'd hosted a party. Quickly deciding on the date and time he programmed it into his blackberry and sent out all the invitations, carefully making sure that Roxas' new e-mail address was included in the send out. He knew what the e-mail address was of course. It was part of his duties to create those for any newcomers.

_Axel is hosting a friendly get-together on Friday! 7PM! Come to my house. For those who've forgotten and those who don't know, I live at:_

_349 – 49 West Jefferson Way_

_Free food and booze! RSVP or Robot Unicorns will GET YOU! _

He followed that by a bit of robot unicorn clip art he'd made himself. Axel really was very good at art… but then, hippy pie charts did not make themselves. Grinning, he watched all the RSVP's poured in. Everyone knew about his parties. Roxas' was one of the last and Axel wondered if someone else had told him how much fun it was?

No matter. It was fun and this was going to be the party to end all parties!

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Roxas glanced around, very ill at ease. This was the bad part of town. It showed in everything, from the cracked pavement to the crack whores hanging out on the street corners. Demyx seemed oblivious as he drove into an underground parking lot.

"Don't worry, really. Axel's building is pretty nice and the parking is totally safe. 'Sides, we'll all be there." Demyx said cheerfully as he parked the car. The underground parking was mostly empty and Roxas vaguely wondered why. Maybe most people here didn't have cars.

"Why does he live here?" Roxas was a bit puzzled by that. Axel had been with the company a long time. Surely he was making enough to afford something better.

"He says he likes the proximity to all the amenities… I'm not sure what amenities he's talking about and it's probably better not to ask." Demyx led Roxas into the building. He had to punch a key and wait for Axel's voice to come on. "Hey Red, buzz us through!" There was a quick buzz and they were into the building. For this part of town it was decent… which was to say it wasn't very nice. Roxas wrinkled his nose at some of the stains on the carpet. This kind of thing wouldn't have been tolerated in his part of town. "He's also dead broke all the time. He spends money like water…" Demyx knocked on the door and a beaming Axel met them. "Hi Axel!"

"Demyx!" He hugged his friend, pounding the sandy blonde on the back for a moment before his gaze fell on Roxas. Roxas was struck by the almost maniacal good cheer in those bright green eyes. "Hey there cutie!"

"Roxas." He snapped back. He wasn't this guys cutie!

"Rox-ass." Axel drew his name out in a sultry purr that made him blush. Then the redhead grinned. "Come in, come in, party favors await!" They both stepped inside and Roxas got his first view of Axel's apartment.

It was pretty big for this part of town, big enough that no one was having trouble moving around despite the crowd. Roxas gazed around and immediately realized Demyx when he told him he should attend. Everyone in the company seemed to be here, except Xemnas and Saix. Even Zexion was here and he hadn't struck Roxas as a party kind of guy. The furnishings of the apartment were very Spartan, just bare walls and a nice sound system. There wasn't even a TV. There were plenty of chairs and a long, battered table laden with food. People were either sitting in the chairs and holding paper plates of food or standing and doing the same. Roxas' eyes widened as he looked over the spread. It was all finger food but were those miniature hamburgers? Had Axel made this himself?

"Fudge! There's fucking fudge! Axel, marry me." Larxene's high and carrying voice rose over the rest and Roxas saw she was carrying a pan of something brown and gooey. Axel laughed before calling back.

"That's for dessert! Put that back. And I'll marry you as soon as you grow a penis!" Well, that told Roxas a bit more than he'd wanted to know about the redhead's sexuality. Although… Roxas suddenly noticed that Axel was in street clothes. He looked a lot better in jeans and a dark red silk t-shirt that showed off his arms. Axel seemed to be very well-muscles. Jerking his eyes away, Roxas flushed. He wasn't interested in this loud, egotistical idiot. "Hey Roxas, try a lamb pop." Roxas found a piece of meat on a bone shoved into his hand. He hesitated a moment then cautiously bit into it.

"Mrph!" His eyes widened at the taste. "This is delicious." He said, shocked, as Axel smiled.

"Cooking is one of my hobbies. I love hosting parties like this. So what would you like to drink? I've got mixers!" Roxas found himself cajoled into accepting a Mai Tai. Then someone turned the music on and he smiled as he recognized it as Frank Sinatra. Not everyone's cup of tea maybe but Roxas enjoyed it and everyone seemed to find it tolerable. Axel started to groove to the music, completely immune to any embarrassment and Demyx joined him, laughing. Roxas watched them both, amazed at how Axel's pleasure seemed to be infectious.

Maybe this would be a good party after all.

* * *

"That was great fun, wasn't it?" Demyx started the car and Roxas felt vaguely worried. How much had the sandy haired man drunk? But he didn't seem drunk at all. "Axel hosts those parties at least once every two or three months."

"It was fun." Roxas agreed. He hadn't really expected it to be. But everyone had been light-hearted and there had been plenty of amusing conversations. Not to mention the food and drink had been excellent. Before the evening was over Axel had decided to entertain them with some bartending tricks. That had been highly amusing, especially when he'd lost his grip on a tumbler. Fortunately the metal had held out but Axel had needed to mop the floor. "Axel is really weird though." Roxas wasn't sure he liked it. Demyx laughed.

"You have NO idea! Wait until you see him clash with our fearless leader." Demyx shook his head sadly. "Xemnas has a bit of a blind spot. You know how most people think that things they can't understand are important?" Roxas nodded. He'd encountered that phenomenon before. "Xemnas thinks anything he can't understand isn't important. That covers most of what Axel does. That's going to be a problem sooner or later, mark my words."

"Hm." Roxas didn't necessarily believe or disbelieve Demyx's little prophecy. But he'd definitely pay attention. Being an intern was valuable work experience and it might be an opening to work at this company permanently, and the company itself was doing very well. Roxas had researched it before he'd taken the internship. Maybe he'd like to work here after he graduated.

Or maybe not. He would just have to see.

* * *

Several days later.

"Hi button!" Roxas looked up, annoyed, as a long arm draped over his computer. "I'm told you're having a few issues with your com-pew-ter?"

"Huh? Oh, yes." The blonde cursed himself. He'd mentioned to Zexion that his computer was randomly freezing at times and Zexion had said that he would pass the concern on to Axel. That had only been an hour ago though. He hadn't thought the redhead would move that fast. "I'm not sure what's wrong with it." Axel gestured him away and took a seat, quickly beginning some kind of scan.

"Well, snuggle bug, this was the last intern's computer." Roxas bristled a little as he watched Axel work. Snuggle bug? He noticed that Axel's fingers were long and agile as they quickly tapped the keys. "And given that she was let go after I, mmm, checked the log files and found she was looking at an amazing amount of shota pics I think we can venture a guess of what might be wrong."

"Shota?" Roxas echoed. He'd never heard the term before. Axel looked up with a grin.

"Little boy porn." He said succinctly. Roxas eyes widened and he quickly added. "Little boy cartoon porn. It's legal enough but not something for the office."

"Cartoon porn?" Roxas was disgusted at the thought but Axel just laughed.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it! Some of it is very hot if you like guys. I prefer the stuff that might be adult if you squint a little. And these are Japanese cartoons so they're often pretty realistic. Stay away from the DBZ porn though… ah! Yes." Axel clicked his tongue sadly. "Several infections. It's a good thing I assumed people would do stuff like this when I set up the servers. Well, why don't you go check up on Xemnas for a while, make sure he has his tea and cookies? This will take a bit." Roxas snorted a little at the image of the forbidding owner of the company drinking tea and eating cookies. Axel flashed him a quick grin as he bent down to work. There was a beeping sound and Roxas frowned, looking down. It was coming from the blackberry Axel had clipped to his belt. "Hmm, can you check that for me?" Cringing a little, Roxas unhooked the little gadget from his belt. Fortunately Axel was concentrating hard on his work. The blonde glanced at the message.

"Axel, please prepare the building for a full inspection in three weeks." He read out loud. The typing at the computer abruptly ceased.

"What?" Roxas looked up with a blink as Axel turned, frowning. His green eyes were suddenly intent and hard as he reached up to adjust the goggles on his forehead. "What did you say?"

"A building inspection in three weeks." He repeated uncertainly. It seemed clear to him. Axel spat out a foul oath and grabbed the blackberry, reading over the message quickly.

"XEMNAS!" He roared. The volumn was ear shattering and Roxas could see heads popping out from cubicles. No one seemed particularly surprised as Axel stormed off toward Xemnas' office. Roxas dithered a moment then followed, feeling both frightened and curious. Was this what Demyx had been talking about? "What in fuck?" Axel slammed open the door with a fine disregard for etiquette and common courtesy. Xemnas looked up from a report, cold displeasure on his handsome face. Roxas swallowed hard and suddenly wondered if he should be here. He'd already learned to dread that look but Axel seemed completely indifferent. "What in hell is this?" He held up his blackberry.

"My message was perfectly clear. What question do you have?" He asked and Axel looked ready to explode. His temper was as hot as Xemnas' was cold and Roxas had no idea which was more dangerous.

"What question? What QUESTION? How in fuck am I supposed to get the building ready in three weeks?" Axel demanded and Roxas felt bewildered. The building clearly functioned. It should always be kept up enough for – "Request for a new boiler part, denied!" Axel began flipping through entries in his blackberry. "Request for new air filtration units, denied! What the fuck! The building inspector frowns upon scavenged parts, Xemnas! What's he going to say when I show him three air filtration units pulled out of broken air conditioners, huh? He's not gonna say golly gee, it works really well! He's going to say it's a fucking disaster!"

"I do not care." Xemnas voice was cold as the north wind and sliced through Axel's anger easily. But it didn't frighten the redhead, only angered him further. "You passed the last inspection. You can pass this one. Consult with Zexion about what you need. Now get out. I have work to do."

"You – you – " Axel suddenly snarled and stalked out. Roxas hesitated and was about to follow when Xemnas gestured at him.

"Stay." Roxas swallowed hard but edged into the room. "Axel is very insubordinate. Unfortunately, he is also quite good at what he does. But someone who would like to rise in this company would be well advised not to get too closely involved with him." Xemnas didn't raise his voice but his tone conveyed his intense dislike for Axel. Roxas wondered if the redhead knew how much the owner despised him. Would he care if he did? And was the feeling mutual? Probably.

"I understand sir." Roxas said quietly and the older man gave him a small, approving smile before he left the room. And he did understand. He just wasn't certain he cared.

This company might not be the right one for him.


	2. Men At Work

It was a beautiful office. Painted in gentle lilac and cream, it was decorated lightly but in perfect taste. An antique coo coo clock gently chirped out the time. Peace reigned and aside from the clock, the only sound was the gentle tapping of fingers against computer keys. Then the owner of the office looked up as something loud and obnoxious entered his domain.

"Okay, Zexion. What have you got in the budget for me?" Axel asked, sitting down on the corner of Zexion's desk and almost knocking over a set of metal stress balls. Zexion didn't look at all happy to see him.

"What do you mean? The budget is already set." The purple haired young man said, a touch irritably. Axel reached up to adjust his goggles before shaking his head.

"He didn't tell you? Man, we are fucked. Zex, there's a building inspection coming up in three weeks. I need everything you can shake out of the budget and I need it yesterday." Zexion just stared at him a moment and Axel examined the younger man. Zexion was said to be an old friend of Xemnas although they weren't as friendly as they once had been. He was slender and very well dressed, with a dress shirt that had never looked anything like Axel's even on its worst day. Despite the differences between them, he and the redhead got along fairly well. Zexion respected his work. Unfortunately, that made little difference in the general apportioning of the budget. Xemnas kept that firmly within his own hands.

"This is not a good time for stupid jokes Axel." He said flatly and Axel managed to match the tone.

"Does it look like I'm joking?" Zexion closed his eyes and Axel could see his lips moving in silent words. Probably an imprecation. "Yeah, that's how I felt."

"What do you need?" Axel wordlessly passed over a list. "I see you've already arranged them by priority." Axel nodded. When he needed to be he was highly efficient. It was how he managed to find time to goof off. "Are these the prices?" Zexion's tone was all business despite the hair-raising totals.

"The first numbers are. The second are the prices including shipping within the time frame needed." Zexion accepted that correction with a false calm and his lips moved again as he looked at the second set of numbers. They were appreciably higher than the first set. "I know, and I'm really fucking sorry. But stuff like this should be ordered months in advance. I need to get them in time to install them."

"I understand." Zexion took a deep breath and turned to his monitor. "If we completely scrap the office party fund and pull some funding from all the other projects I think I can manage what's one the first part of this list. How important is the rest?" Axel winced. None of that would make them at all popular with the rest of the office but there was no help for it.

"Um…" Axel looked over the other items. The first set were the things that could get the building immediately shut down but the other items were important too. "If you could get me this and this – " He pointed out the items. "I think I can fix up everything else well enough to fool the inspector. But Zex, can you please explain to Xemnas that I'm plastering over the cracks every time I do that?" Axel's tone was genuinely concerned. "He doesn't listen to me."

"I'll try." Zexion sounded pessimistic but shrugged. "If we ever fail an inspection he'll have to pay attention." Axel grimaced but nodded. They both knew failing an inspection would be very, very expensive for the business. "Is there any help you need?"

"Uh…" An idea suddenly occurred to Axel and he smiled broadly. "Can I borrow that sweet l'il intern, Roxas? He might not be much help but he can at least hold stuff." He would also provide a pleasant little counterpoint to the hell that was about to become his life for the next three weeks. Axel thought he deserved that much.

"Certainly. I'll clear it with Xemnas." Zexion said firmly. Even if Xemnas didn't like it, he'd let Axel have the intern. It wasn't like Roxas was critical to the running of the company. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to send out some memos." Axel took the hint and left to go grab Roxas. He wanted to be out of the office when people got notice that all parties and outings were cancelled for the foreseeable future.

It wouldn't be the first time, but no one ever liked the consequences of Xemnas' penny pinching. And he was a much easier target for their ire than the owner of the company.

* * *

"Screwdriver." Axel held out a hand as Roxas looked helplessly at the tools. There were three screwdrivers. "Red handle?"

"Ah, right." He quickly pressed the right one into the redhead's hand, ignoring the momentary brush of fingers. It was bizarre, but he was finding Axel was far more attractive when he was working hard than when he was goofing off. He tended to catch his tongue between his teeth in an oddly endearing gesture when he was really concentrating. Right now they were doing something with the elevators. As far as he could tell they'd worked fine before but Axel was determined to replace several parts. Apparently whatever he'd been using before was not standard equipment. "There." Axel shut the panel and wiped off his hands on a rag. "That'll hold it. C'mon, lets go back upstairs and grab those new air filtration units."

"Right." Roxas followed the redhead, pondering a question he'd been meaning to ask for some time. "Axel? What exactly is your job?" He finally asked and Axel glanced over his shoulder with a tired grin.

"Whatever needs doing, Roxy. Heck, you should know that, you've been following me around all day!" Axel said teasingly, reaching up to adjust his goggles. Roxas shook his head, more irritated at himself than anything. That wasn't the right question.

"No, I mean, this seems like such a wide variety – actually, what's your job title?" That was a much better question and Axel paused a moment, thinking about it.

"Um… oh yeah! Maintenance Supervisor." Axel laughed as Roxas blinked. "Which is sort of a laugh in a building this small. When I first joined the company as a teenager, I was the assistant maintenance engineer or something. When he retired I took over and I've been doing it ever since." Roxas tilted his head thoughtfully. Axel seemed to be in charge of all the computers as well as the building which was a little peculiar, but it was a very small company.

"Oh." Roxas frowned. "But you don't have anyone to help you?" Except for himself of course. Axel shrugged.

"Mostly I don't need anyone. I'm pretty fast when I want to be and when I get my work done I get to play World of Warcraft. Say, have you ever played?" Axel asked and Roxas shook his head. "Dang. Do you play anything?"

"Uh, yes, I'm on FarmVille and Café World." Roxas admitted. "Although I don't touch them while I'm at work." That was completely out of bounds. Axel grinned.

"Hey, if you ever get an office don't worry about it. I'll clean the cache for you, no problem. Not even god could find evidence when I'm done!" He boasted and Roxas shook his head with a smile. "Maybe I'll have to try those. Most of my time is taken up with WoW though. Well, it used to be." Axel rolled his eyes expressively and Roxas couldn't help but laugh. He would never have believed Axel could work like this when he first met him. Axel walked into his office and Roxas looked around with a blink. Every surface was covered in parts and various tools and equipment. "Here, carry this." Several screen things were shoved into his arms. Roxas carried them easily as Axel lifted something bulkier and heavier. "I should have rented a dolly… bah. Too late now." He grunted as he carried out the piece and then there was a yelp. "Dem! Get out of the way."

"Oh sorry! Um, Axel, I know you're busy but the server's been acting up." Demyx sounded anxious and Axel stopped. Roxas winced as he saw the tiredness on his face. Axel was staying long after he left for the day.

"I'll look at it before I go home Demy." Axel finally said and Demyx nodded gratefully before fleeing. "Another thing to do. Just what I need." Axel mumbled to himself as they started out. Roxas had to half-jog to keep up with the older man's long legged strides. This time they headed for the roof. "Bah. This needs a cleaning." Axel set down his burden and pulled out his datapad, shooting off a message to Xemnas. "We have a damn cleaning company that comes by once a week. He can get them up here, I'm not a janitor." Axel grumbled as he started installing the new air filtration unit. "Hand me one of those screens."

"Right." Roxas watched Axel worked, handing him tools when necessary or holding things in place. It was boring but he could tell he was making things easier for the redhead. Then he checked the time and frowned. "Axel?" He waited until the redhead looked up, meeting bright green eyes. There was a smudge of oil on his cheek and Roxas had to resist the impulse to wipe it away. "I need to go home soon." He was working on an hourly wage, unlike Axel. The redhead blinked and reached up to touch his goggles again.

"Shit, it's that late already?" He said distractedly. "Sorry Roxas. Sure, you just go ahead – eh?" Roxas finally gave in to the impulse and stepped forward, gently wiping away the smudge from Axel's cheek. A slow smile crossed his face and Roxas couldn't help but smile back. "Aw, that's sweet. Thanks."

"Uh, you're welcome." Roxas had to firmly remind himself that he wasn't interested in the redhead. Axel did look attractive right now though, with his energy subdued by serious work and the sparkle of good humor in his eyes. "…Maybe I could stay a little longer." He murmured. Axel looked surprised.

"Xemnas won't pay you for it." He warned the blonde. "He's such a penny pinching bastard." Roxas hesitated a moment. This was a lot of work for no pay.

"I'm not really doing anything tonight. It's okay. But I won't be doing this all the time." He wanted to make sure Axel understood that. The redhead just nodded with a smile, going back to his work.

"Thanks Roxas." Was all he said, but the genuine gratitude in those words was warming. Roxas watched him working for a moment before thinking of a question he'd been meaning to ask.

"Axel, this question might be a bit personal, but I was wondering. How much do you make?" At first he'd thought Axel was a useless drone. It was clear that was anything but the case. Of course, this wasn't a normal situation but still. Axel was working well into the evenings every night and Roxas suspected he was working most of the weekend too. How much was he getting paid for this?

"Nah, it's okay. About thirty thousand a year." Roxas gasped and Axel looked up with a grin. "Pretty good, huh?"

"R-Right. Pretty good." Roxas said weakly. It was actually awful. Terrible beyond words. No wonder Axel lived in a ratty apartment in the worst part of town. The worst part was that Axel seemed to be serious. "Have you ever gotten a raise?" Axel frowned, sliding a finger under his goggles to scratch an itch there as he thought.

"Yeah, five years ago they upped me from twenty-five to thirty. Zexion said my salary hadn't been keeping pace with inflation." Axel shrugged. "Pass me a wrench?" Roxas handed him the tool. "Not many jobs you can play World of Warcraft at. I love this place most of the time. I get my job done so fast you'd be amazed. Although I really hate it when Xemnas hides things like this from me. Man, if he'd only told me months ago this could have been a walk in the park." Axel shook his head. "I swear, he likes to make my life difficult."

"Probably." Roxas remembered the hard dislike in Xemnas eyes as he looked at Axel and was willing to bet his last dollar that Axel's tiny salary was the reason he hadn't been fired. That and his amazing skill. But how long would that hold out against Xemnas' feelings? He wasn't sure. "Oh, and why did I get an invitation to World of Warcraft in my e-mail?" The blonde asked teasingly. He was pretty sure he knew the answer to that one. Axel looked up with a grin.

"I want to spend some quality time with you and WoW is the only way we're going to manage it until this project is done!" Axel finished screwing everything together and stood up, brushing his clothes off. "I take Sundays off. Can't work every day of the week or you start to burn out. So did you want to try it?" Axel sounded so eager Roxas felt bad for declining, but he shook his head anyway.

"No, sorry. I'm not into computer games." He preferred reading or watching television. Axel looked disappointed but nodded. It was hardly the first time he'd had his invites declined.

"Okay. Well, if you change your mind roll a toon on Suramar. That's my server." Roxas nodded, mentally noting the name. Maybe he'd try it. He knew the game was popular, maybe it would be interesting to play.

Roxas didn't regret staying but he was very tired by the time Axel finally called it quits. Checking his watch he saw with dismay that it was nine in the evening. He usually went to bed at ten so he could be into the office for eight. Roxas looked up with a blink as Axel rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, can I treat you to a bean burrito before you go? The Taco Time across the street doesn't close until eleven." Roxas thought about it and gave the redhead a tentative smile.

"Sure. It would be nice not to have to cook anything." He'd anticipated nuking some ramen when he got home but this would be better. Axel nodded with a grin and they slowly walked back to the office. When they arrived Roxas grabbed his backpack while Axel found his fashion atrocity of a fanny pack. It was bright green with yellow lilies on it. "Where did you get that?"

"Ebay. I got it for a dollar plus another dollar postage. A deal, eh?" Axel grinned at the dubious look on the blonde's face. "I figure it was in fashion purgatory before that. But hey, it was cheap and it carries my stuff. Plus it's really hard to pick pocket."

"Mmm, okay." Roxas wondered how Axel had figured out about the pick pocketing and decided he'd rather not know. Given the area he lived in it could have been from personal experience. They walked across the street and Roxas was glad this was a pretty good part of town. Even this late all the streets were brightly lit. Although… "How will you get home? Do you have a car?" The bussing would be erratic at best this time of night. Axel shook his head.

"Nah. I'll take the bus. Don't worry about me, I'm good." Roxas bit his lip, wondering if he should offer the redhead a ride as Axel placed his order. Then he blinked at the sheer quantity of food Axel was ordering. Was he ordering for both of them? "And what would you like?" He turned to Roxas and the blonde swallowed as he realized Axel meant to eat all of it.

"Just a chicken burrito and an empanada, please." Normally he wouldn't have gotten the empanada, they took a while to cook, but Axel was already getting one. It would only be an extra minute or two anyway. Sure enough they soon had their food and Roxas watched, a bit grossed out as Axel dug in. "That's a lot of food." He finally said and Axel looked up from his steak burrito with a grin.

"I haven't eaten lunch." He said with a half-shrug. "And it takes a lot of fuel to keep me going. Just a bundle of energy!" That made Roxas smile ruefully. Axel was starting to get his wind back and it showed. "Man, this month is sucking, can't wait until the inspection is over. Didja know if they fail us they could shut down the whole building?" Axel shook his head in disgust as he quickly ate a crisp meat burrito. "Xemnas is such an ass. Penny pinching all the damn time. I wish he'd just give me a decent budget so I wouldn't have to scrounge so much."

"He's lucky to have you. Most people couldn't do that at all." Roxas said and Axel looked a touch mystified. "No one else in the office could."

"Oh, yeah, but they're a bunch of mechanical idiots." Axel dismissed them with a wave of his hand and Roxas had to suppress the urge to tell Axel most of the world was exactly like them, or worse. "My skills aren't that special. Xemnas could replace me easily. I mean, World of Warcraft all day! Who couldn't handle that."

"Um." Roxas privately thought that Axel didn't understand how valuable his skills really were. But then, why else would he be working here for peanuts? He was like a maintenance man and a network admin rolled into one. "Well, if you say so." Roxas decided he didn't know enough to disagree with Axel. He was only an intern after all. Axel grinned.

"I do! Of course, he'd have to pay my replacement more so Xem won't even if he hates me. Hey, tell me. What are you taking in University? I don't think I heard." Axel's mind wandered to a new subject as he watched the blonde across from him, fascinated. Roxas really was a cutie, especially when he was tired and a bit dirty. The blonde smiled and Axel felt the attraction all over again.

"Just business. I'm hoping for a career in marketing." Axel made a small face and Roxas lifted his eyebrows. "You don't like marketing?"

"They're the spawn of Satan." Axel said firmly and Roxas blinked before laughing. "Hey, I'm not kidding! Larxene works in marketing and she'll suck your soul out! I've seen it happen before!"

"Sure you have." Roxas said dryly before taking a bite of his food. The salsa it came with had a very nice kick and the empanada was piping hot. Axel grinned as he wolfed down a handful of chips.

"Well, okay, maybe it wasn't a soul she was sucking." Roxas looked at him quizzically. "Just an FYI. There are cameras in the office supply rooms. Just sayin'." Axel grinned wickedly as Roxas choked and wondered exactly what had been caught on camera. "Not that I passed that tape on to Xemnas. Nope, that's in my private blackmail file." He rubbed his hands together like a mad scientist with a particularly interesting experiment. "I'm still waiting for the perfect opportunity to make use of it."

"Too much information Axel." Roxas said firmly. He didn't want to think about Larxene's amorous activities in the supply room. She was pretty enough but the antenna haired woman was far too sharp and a touch nasty to be a friend. She was also his superior and liked to call him 'kid'. It was very annoying. "Well, I'm done." Axel wasn't quite finished but Roxas didn't want to wait. It was almost nine-thirty now. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said, pushing back his chair and picking up his tray. Axel nodded.

"See you later Roxy." Roxas paused a moment at that low, sultry purr and then shook his head before he dumped out his wrappers.

Axel might be a lot more interesting when he was working but he was still too hyper. Roxas didn't want any romantic entanglements.


	3. Stealing A Date

"Pass me the welding torch."

"Uh, right." Roxas quickly found the torch as Axel pulled down his goggles. To the blonde's surprise, those brass and leather steampunk goggles had a practical use. He doubted they were actually supposed to be used as eye protection, but they were tinted and made out of very sturdy glass. It seemed to work well. "Axel? How much longer will we be doing this?" Roxas was beginning to get very weary of being Axel's gopher. Not that he minded being around Axel but it was just hard work. He wasn't learning much about his chosen field either.

"Hm, I didn't tell you?" Axel said absently as he fired up the torch and began his soldering job. Roxas was very vague on what exactly he was up to but soon the sparks were flying. "The inspection is tomorrow. It's pass or fail but this is the last day."

"Oh." Roxas hesitated a moment. "Would you like me to stay late tonight?" He offered. He'd only stayed late a few times and true to Axel's cautions, he hadn't gotten paid. Axel paused a moment, thinking.

"If you could that would be great. I bet I can even get Xemnas to pay you for it since it's the last day." Axel finally shut off the torch and examined his work critically. "That'll have to do. It should pass the inspection. Okay, we've only got two more major things on the list and then it's all touch up." Axel stood, pulling his goggles back up to his forehead. "God, I can't wait until this is over. I'm going to meld with the computer. WoW is calling my name."

"You're such an addict." Roxas said but it came out as friendly banter and Axel grinned.

"Got that right! I have no idea what I'd do without my obsessions. Take up needlepoint most likely." Roxas goggled for a moment at the mental image of Axel doing needlepoint. That was just wrong. "You know what I would do if I ever got fired from this job?" Axel said brightly. "I'd get a job as a short order cook!"

"Sounds like a waste of your talents." Roxas said absently as he helped Axel pick up and put away his tools. "Although you would probably be good at it." Despite his tendency to goof off, or maybe because of it, Axel was amazingly efficient. That was a good quality for a cook. "But you wouldn't be able to play WoW at work."

"Sure I would. A laptop!" Axel said with a grin and Roxas snorted as they headed back to the offices.

"Around hot oil?" He asked and the redhead frowned, scratching his head.

"Hmm, a point – eh? What can I do for you Saix?" Axel's tone was cordial but not warm. That wasn't surprising since the blue haired man was Xemnas' closest subordinate. Saix smiled, showing very white, sharp teeth. He glanced at Roxas thoughtfully a moment before looking back at Axel.

"Xemnas would like your quarterly report." He said in his soft, almost purring voice. Axel grimaced and shook his head. "After the inspection is done." Saix amended, to Roxas' relief. He knew how completely overworked Axel was right now and demanding a report on top of it would simply be ridiculous.

"Hmph, alright." Axel gave in with ill grace. "Tell Xemnas I need him to pay Roxas some overtime for tonight since he didn't get in the damn cleaning company." Saix simply nodded. Roxas didn't like something about his smile but Axel didn't seem to notice.

"I'll see what I can do." That wasn't a promise and Roxas sighed to himself. If he didn't get paid, he didn't get paid. But he couldn't just leave Axel. Per hour, the redhead was probably getting paid less than he was. But that was the danger of being salaried. Axel nodded and led Roxas to the cleaning supplies. Touching up was important since Axel would be sweet-talking the inspector into overlooking some of the flaws he'd only had time and money to paper over. That would a lot easier if everything was clean and tidy.

"Not a janitor. Cheap bastard…" The redhead was muttering to himself as he worked, sweeping with speed and precision. Roxas found that he took longer, despite really trying to keep up with Axel. The redhead was just so fast. But finally they were done. Roxas sighed as he helped Axel put away all the supplies. He couldn't wait to get home, go to bed and finally come back to the job he was supposed to have. He was supposed to be learning about marketing not heavy machinery. "Hey, Roxas, I was wondering." Axel said with a casualness that immediately put Roxas on guard. The blonde gave him a suspicious look and Axel smiled innocently. "Would you like to go out for coffee tomorrow? I owe you a thank you for all this."

"Um." Roxas hesitated a moment and Xemnas' warnings flashed through his mind. Did he want to get close to the redhead? "No, thank you. That's okay." Roxas ignored the edge of disappointment in Axel's face as he nodded.

"Well, maybe some other time." Axel ran a hand through his hair, stretching for a moment and popping his joints. "Argh, I'm exhausted! Let me buy you another burrito." Roxas wanted to refuse but then his stomach growled and he blushed.

"Alright. Thanks." He sternly reminded himself that accepting a chicken burrito meant nothing as they crossed the street to the Taco Time.

Nothing at all.

* * *

"What to do?" Axel pondered as he went cat form and started to shred the target. If the pally wanted to tank, he could damn well tank. "Should I buy him flowers? More coffee?" Axel mused and sighed, going bear as the hunter backed up to get a clear firing range and aggroed another pack of enemies behind her. Very little of his mind was on the game as he hit the swipe button several times then did a challenging roar.

Roxas was proving remarkably adept at dodging his advances. Axel had asked him out to coffee, too lunch and even to the movies. All had been met with polite refusals. Yet, he was sure Roxas liked him. Why didn't the blonde want to do anything with him? He came to the parties Axel organized but then, everyone did except Xemnas and Saix. So that really didn't mean much.

"Huh?" Axel blinked at his screen. "They kicked me from the group!" He had been teleported back to Dalaran. The redhead burst out laughing. "Okay! I can take a hint!" He shut off the game before twirling in his chair. "I need to figure something out." He wasn't concentrating enough to tank. "Hmm." He finally set his chin on his hand, gazing away, completely unaware that he was accidentally The Thinker statue. Of course, his thoughts were not nearly so deep. "How do I get a hot blonde to notice me?"

_Pin him to the wall and kiss him!_ Mr. Penis suggested independently and Axel flushed at the image of Roxas, his lips parted and looking up at him with those big, beautiful blue eyes. It was a beautiful image and completely unrealistic.

"He'd kick me in the balls. You be quiet." Axel steadfastedly ignored the whisperings of his errant genitalia. He'd figured out in high school that listening to Mr. Penis was a bad idea. "Hmm." But he really, really wanted Roxas. After spending so much time with him he was even more sure of it. Roxas was cute, nice and very practical. He knew how to look after himself and he was just so damn _cute_. Axel sighed wistfully as he contemplated that cuteness. It was cuteness beyond cuteness, epic cuteness, no, legendary –

"Hey Axel!" Axel started violently as Demyx barged into his office. "My computer is acting up, I think it has a virus. Can you help?" The mullet-haired man put on a pleading face and Axel sighed, abandoning his chair.

"Oh, alright, I suppose." He regretfully shelved his Roxas related dreams and went to help Demyx with his computer. He was beginning to think he'd have to do something a little underhanded to get Roxas on a date. Well, Axel knew the perfect trick for that and if Roxas kicked him in the balls so be it.

He couldn't let this one get away.

* * *

Roxas took off his coat and glanced around, expecting to see all the people from work at the party. To his surprise and slight discomfort, no one was there except for Axel.

"I didn't think I was that early." He said as the redhead took his coat and Axel made a face.

"You're not. I got the dates crossed and no one else could make it." Axel sounded regretful and Roxas blinked, biting his lip lightly. "Sorry. But we have plenty of food! You can take home the extra." He added brightly and Roxas couldn't help but smile. Extra food, especially the kind of food Axel made would always be useful.

"Thanks." Roxas was a bit nervous about being alone with Axel but he was sure it would be fine. It had just been a mistake. "So what would you like to do?" Clearly they couldn't play the games the group usually would. Axel looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" He asked hopefully. "I have this wonderful animated thing I found in my collection. It looks pretty funny."

"Sure." Roxas said amiably and went to check out the food as Axel started up the movie. There was a lot of it, just as Axel had said. "Axel, what is this?" He poked something dubiously and Axel glanced over with a grin.

"That's calf brains, cooked and fried with an Italian sauce." Roxas went a little green and went on to the next dish which was thankfully recognizable. "Hey, that's Demy's favorite!"

"He can have it." Roxas said firmly as he took some chicken wings. Axel shrugged with a grin and took a big helping of the calf brains. Roxas took only small portions of everything and still ended up with a heaping plate full of tasty goodness. "Mmm, these mashed potatoes are wonderful." They seemed to be a combination of red potatoes and sweet. They were also incredibly rich. Axel nodded.

"The trick is putting a lot of cream and butter into it." He said sagely and Roxas paused a moment, looking at his plate.

"Jeez Axel, some of us have to worry about gaining weight!" He joked and the redhead grinned. For a moment Roxas could only admire him. He looked so handsome in stone washed jeans and an Airship Pirate t-shirt. Roxas glanced at his throat and noticed Axel was wearing a necklace too, brass and hung with a little spyglass. Somehow he was sure it actually worked.

"Hmm, a pudgy Roxas?" Axel laughed. "That sounds so cute!" Roxas growled and lightly shoved him before taking a seat on the couch. Axel followed, turning on the movie with a small. "This is, um… Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." Roxas paused, confused.

"What?" That name sounded bizarre. Axel shrugged.

"You'll see!" They spent the next hour or so enjoying a light, amusing animated adventure. Roxas found himself tucked up against Axel's side and dozing off near the end, and somehow it didn't seem odd. Nor did the way Axel gently brushed back a bit of his hair before whispering in his ear.

"Roxy? Would you like to stay the night? You've drunk rather a lot of beer." Roxas cracked open his eyes and glanced at the table in front of them, seeing that Axel was right. In addition to the food he'd finished off three beers. He was probably safe to drive but he was so tired and the sofa was so comfy…

"Sure. But I'm sleeping out here." He added firmly. If Axel thought he was drunk enough for a night of casual sex he could think again! The redhead just chuckled and pressed a quick kiss against his cheek.

"Of course. I'll go get you a blanket." He was moving before Roxas could say anything more and the blonde pressed a hand to his cheek, feeling the imprint of his lips. A slow blush spread across Roxas face as he realized he'd liked that kiss… liked it a lot, in fact.

"Why…" He murmured then shook his head. Why was he so attracted to Axel? He was so hyper and annoying! Also very competent and hardworking, not to mention funny and attractive. Roxas swallowed as he realized the good qualities were beginning to outweigh the bad ones. And Axel wasn't as annoying now that he really knew him. The beer made it a bit hard to think but then Xemnas words flashed through his mind. Did he really want to get involved with someone so clearly on the outs with their boss? On the other hand it wasn't like he had to stay with the company and Axel didn't either, for that matter. Maybe he could help the redhead find a better position. A bit of help writing a resume and some coaching on how to act and surely he could find something better.

Roxas shook his head at his own errant thoughts as Axel came out with a blanket and thanked him with a smile as the redhead tucked it around him. For a moment he wondered if Axel was going to kiss him again, but the taller man just smiled, green eyes warm as he bid Roxas goodnight. The blonde wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed as he curled up under the blanket.

He would have to think hard about his feelings for Axel when his mind was clearer.

* * *

"Mmm." Roxas got himself some water from the jug and sipped it, thinking about Axel. The redhead was just so attractive in so many ways and he'd sent him a quick e-mail asking if he wanted to go out for coffee. Roxas hadn't responded yet but he was seriously thinking about it. Maybe there could really be something between them. Maybe –

"Hi Roxas!" Demyx. Roxas looked up with a smile, moving to the side so the older man could get a paper cup of water. "So what's happening?"

"Nothing much. I had a great time last night, it was too bad everyone else couldn't make it." Demyx gave him a puzzled look as he poured his water. "You know, to Axel's party?"

"What party?" Demyx asked, confused, and Roxas stared at him in equal confusion. "There was no party last night."

"There wasn't?" Roxas blurted out. "But he said he got the dates crossed and you couldn't make it!" Demyx scratched his head for a moment, trying to figure things out. "He – wait, you mean he didn't invite you?" A horrible suspicion was dawning on Roxas. Surely Axel hadn't. Had he? That was low!

"No, I didn't get anything. And I wasn't doing anything last night, I just took a bath and read a book. I don't know about the rest of the office but I don't think – hey!" Demyx said, startled, as Roxas stormed away. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

"Axel!" Roxas flung open the door to the redhead's office, sending a few papers flying. The redhead ignored him, focusing on his game. "Axel, damn you, turn that off!" He snapped, blood boiling. The redhead muttered something about tanking and Roxas started looking for the power cable. "Or I'm turning it off for you!"

"What? No! No!" Axel quickly faked a disconnect and shut off WoW before Roxas could unplug him completely. "Don't do that! What is it? What's wrong?" Axel sounded innocently concerned and Roxas had to resist the urge to strangle him. How dare he!

"You only invited me last night, didn't you?" He snarled and Axel froze, panic briefly flitting across his face. "You did! You know, when I said no I meant no!" Although he had been reconsidering it but still. Axel couldn't make that decision for him. Axel hesitated a moment before speaking.

"Roxy… I just wanted you to give me a chance. And we had a fun time so what's the problem?" He said in a pleading tone, standing up and reaching out. Roxas slapped his hand away before giving the redhead a glower.

"The point is that it was my decision to make, not yours! You tricked me into a date!" He snapped and Axel looked wounded. "That's low! How am I supposed to trust you if you do things like – mph!" Roxas found hot lips pressed against his as Axel grabbed his shoulders and gave him a deep, passionate kiss. For a moment he was frozen and various parts of his body registered emphatic approval. The rest took a bit of time to catch up but when it did – "NO!" Roxas jerked away and slapped Axel, hard. The redhead rocked back with a short cry of pain, a livid read mark on his cheek. "Screw you!" Roxas snarled before stalking out, leaving a cloud of fury behind. He was vaguely aware that the whole office had seen and heard that little tiff but couldn't find it in him to care. He was too angry with Axel. Going to his desk he grimly set down to work, trying to concentrate.

He wasn't going to think about that frustrating, redheaded idiot.

* * *

"Well damn." Axel sighed as he tried to concentrate on his work. It had been hours since he'd had his fight with Roxas and his cheek still stung. It wasn't the first time he'd been slapped… not be a longshot… but Roxas certainly packed a punch. He vaguely hoped Roxas would eventually get over it and give him another chance. They really had had a great time.

"Axel." Axel lifted his head to see Saix standing in the doorway, looking at him in cold amusement. "Xemnas wants to see you."

"Hm? Oh sure." Axel said dispiritedly, locking his computer. "Justa sec." Saix waited patiently as Axel gathered up a few papers. "I've got the report ready." Saix smiled.

"Good." Was all the blue haired man said as he led Axel to Xemnas' office. The owner of the company gave him a severe look as he walked in.

"Sorry I'm late with the report. It's all done though." Axel said with an attempt at cheerfulness, plunking down the several page report on the state of the servers and the building. It was liberally marked with coffee rings but for once Xemnas didn't remark on it, ignoring the report on his desk entirely.

"That's fine, but that's not why I've called you here." Axel blinked, confused as Xemnas smiled slowly. "Axel, I've received complaints about you sexually harassing our intern."

"Complaints?" Axel echoed, his mind seizing up. Roxas had complained about him? Although faking a party as a way to get a date certainly might come under the heading of harassment, but still. Roxas had gone to Xemnas about it? "I, uh, it wasn't like that!" Axel said lamely as he flushed in embarrassment. "I've just been asking him on dates, you know, the usual."

"And that's why you kissed him when he clearly did not welcome your advances?" Xemnas said coolly and Axel struggled to find an answer. "I notice your cheek is looking quite red. I was told he slapped you."

"Uh, yeah, but we can work it out." Axel said then cursed himself. If Roxas had gone to Xemnas they clearly _couldn't _work it out. "I mean, we're both grown adults and stuff." Xemnas snorted at that.

"I wonder about you. But it doesn't matter. Axel, you're fired." Axel stared, shocked. This was the first time he'd ever been fired. "Saix, escort him out." Axel felt the blue haired man grip his arm and that put his brain back into gear.

"Now wait just a damn minute! I need my stuff! I have a figure print in my office I spent a hundred bucks on!" Axel protested. Xemnas paused, a weary look crossing over his face. He was sure that was actually the truth. "And I need to make a list of the passwords. They're all in my head." And while he didn't really care about Xemnas he still didn't want Demyx and the others to suffer. Not to mention the next poor bastard who tried to take over his job. "Without them you'll be screwed!"

"Oh, very well. Saix, take him back to his office and watch him." Xemnas instructed and Saix nodded, smiling. "Make sure he does nothing untoward to the computers." Axel refrained from asking how the blue haired man was supposed to know. Saix was not particularly good with computers and even if he was, if Axel had been malicious he could have made something up ahead of time that would have taken only a few keystrokes to activate. But it was better not to point that out. He hadn't made anything anyway. Taking a deep breath, Axel left Xemnas' office and quickly walked back to his own.

There wasn't really much to take. Just the figure print and some loose change out of the upper drawer. He grabbed a piece of paper and noted down every system and the passwords needed to enter them. That wouldn't tell his replacement anything about how to use them and there was no real documentation but that would be Xemnas' problem. Then he hesitated a moment before tugging off his goggles and hanging them up on a hook by the door. He'd bought them with his own money but had always considered them almost a badge of office. Besides, the next person to work here would need them. Taking a quick look over the office he nodded and stepped out, ignoring Saix as he left the building. Tucking the figure print under one arm he pulled out his blackberry and quickly deleted the company contact list. Axel was too much in shock to feel much but he knew he wouldn't need the e-mails anymore.

They were part of his past. He needed to make a new future.


	4. Where's My Axel?

"Wow." Axel slumped in his seat, sipping a beer. "Talk about a kick in the nuts." He'd had drinks thrown in his face many times by irate ladies of the night and, yes, a few ball wackings. His pickup lines tended to get much worse when he was drunk and 'you wanna come see my pixels?' was an almost guaranteed loser. Still, he couldn't remember being kicked to the curb quite this thoroughly. "Huh." For a moment he lingered in a miasma of depression. He'd lost any chance at Roxas and his job in one day. How could things get any worse? "Pah!" Shaking his head sharply Axel pulled himself out of the blues. He was not a man to sit and be depressed. He was a man of action!

Suiting thoughts to deeds, Axel walked over to the computer, beer in hand and began checking his bank account balances. They weren't good at all but that didn't matter. What he was looking at was the amount left on his credit cards. To his pleasure he saw there was a good ten thousand dollars left of room. Now, what to do with it?

"I know!" Axel quickly accessed his World of Warcraft account. There was one particular person who'd invited him to come over if he ever happened to be in the area. Such invitations were rarely serious but he'd helped SoSo work through a very annoying problem he'd been having with the updater. Maybe he'd really be willing to put him up. Checking the guild tab he saw the person he wanted was online and shot him a private message.

_Hey you so and so! How's it goin'?_

_Not bad. You?_

_Not so good. Got fired._

_Srsly?!? Why?_

_Boss hated me. Could I crash at your place for a while man? I can pay. I just need to get out of here._

_Let me check with RiRi. _That was SoSo's roommate and fellow guild member. SoSo played a resto shaman while RiRi was a warlock. Axel waited patiently for them to get done. _He says sure as long as you buy some groceries and TP while you're here. So you're looking for a job?_

_Yeah. You know anything? _Axel tilted his head curiously as he waited for a reply. He didn't have the least idea what SoSo did for a living except that it wasn't computer oriented. SoSo and RiRi were both fairly good at using computers but they did not understand them.

_Maybe! We'll have to talk about it. So you're taking a plane? Want a pickup at the airport? When you arriving? _Axel laughed and flicked over to the Priceline website. He quickly found a flight departing tomorrow at a terrible time for a very good price.

_Looks like 3AM in the morning. _He quickly reported and was surprised by the response.

_Oh perfect! RiRi should be finishing up about then, he can go get you. Look for a really handsome guy with silvery hair. Oh, his real name is Riku. Mine's Sora. _Axel smiled at that. He'd only known their toons names before.

_My real name is Axel. You know what I look like… the beanpole with bright red hair. _He'd posted a pic of himself in the forums and had to endure a few carrot jokes. _OK, later, I need to pack. _He only had a day to pack and get his affairs in order. Although he just wasn't going to bother with most of them. He was on a month to month lease so he'd just leave his stuff and slip a note under the landlord's door. In this neighborhood the landlord might sell everything or just rent out the apartment as fully furnished. Axel hummed to himself as he started to put together a suitcase.

He'd always wanted to see Las Vegas.

* * *

Roxas completely missed Axel's summary ejection from the building. And he was so wrapped up in his work that the rumors flying through the air went completely over his head. He did notice how people were looking at him but dismissed it. His fight with Axel had been very loud. Of course people would be looking at him strangely.

He took the next day off sick as he tried to figure out what to do. His fury with Axel was starting to dull and he had to admit if only to himself that the redhead was very interesting. Roxas chopped up some onions with half his mind on the task as he considered Axel. He was handsome and funny and needed a keeper. That last quality was actually strangely attractive. Roxas was sure Axel could be far more successful if he had the right person in his life to gently point him in the right direction.

"Ow!" Reality came back with a jolt as Roxas accidentally sliced his finger. Grimacing, he carefully blotted the cut on a bit of paper towel. "Huh." It would also be nice to have someone around who could cook without chopping himself up. Although that was assuming that everything worked out and that was definitely not certain. Roxas dumped the onions in with the steak and watched as they began to sizzle. "I shouldn't have hit him." He mumbled to himself.

With time to think about it he was beginning to regret his actions. Yes, Axel had been completely out of line. Tricking him into a date had been wrong. On the other hand, it wasn't really the worst thing in the world. They'd had a good time and Axel hadn't tried to seduce him. Couldn't he give the redhead a chance? It wasn't like Roxas really cared what Xemnas thought of him. Jobs were hard to find in this economy but it wasn't like he was certain Xemnas would be offering him a job even if he sucked up hard. From what he'd seen the office didn't really need anyone else.

"I'll have to apologize." Roxas felt better with that decision. He'd apologize and offer to buy Axel supper. That should smooth things over, the redhead wasn't the type to hold grudges and he loved his bean burritos. Then maybe… if Axel was still interested… they could go on a date. Roxas had finally decided he didn't care what Xemnas thought.

When he went to work the next day, though, he couldn't find Axel. To his surprise the redhead wasn't in his office. He wasn't working on the air vents either. Puzzled, Roxas searched through the building but couldn't find him anywhere.

"Hey Demyx?" He paused by the other man's cubicle. "Where's Axel? Is he sick?" Roxas was guiltily aware that if Axel was sick it was probably an 'illness' similar to his own. Demyx goggled at him a moment and Roxas wondered what he'd said. It was a simple question –

"You haven't heard? But weren't you the one who – I mean – Axel's been fired." Roxas stared. For a moment his mind couldn't process the words. _Fired? _Axel? "For, uh, for harassing you." Demyx said lamely and Roxas' jaw dropped open.

"What?!?" He finally sputtered. "I never complained about it!" Wasn't a complaint necessary before someone could be fired for that? Then Roxas frowned. The whole office had likely seen Axel kiss him and he was an intern, very junior compared to Axel. Maybe a formal complaint wasn't really required. Still! "Xemnas must have been looking for a reason to get rid of him." Roxas belatedly realized he'd underestimated how much the owner of the company despised his technical expert. But Axel had been so underpaid! How would Xemnas replace him? And how was Axel coping with being unemployed? Roxas blanched at that thought. For a lot of people being fired was very traumatic and did Axel think he had complained to Xemnas? "Oh my god, he probably thinks – I need to go see him." Roxas hesitated then left to go speak to Zexion. Xemnas would never let him go early but maybe the CFO would be sympathetic. Roxas tapped on the door and waited.

"Come in." Roxas opened the door and stepped inside. He was immediately struck by how stressed Zexion looked but the purple haired man managed a thin smile. "Roxas. What can I help you with?" Roxas swallowed and spoke.

"I need to go home early, if that's okay. I – I need to go see how Axel is doing." He confessed. Zexion looked very surprised.

"But didn't you complain about him?" Roxas winced as he realized everyone in the office must be thinking that and shook his head. "Oh. I see." Zexion's lips compressed into a thin line for a moment before he sighed. "Very well. I'll clock you out." He wasn't really concerned about Axel but he could see Roxas would be useless if he didn't get to reassure himself that the redhead was alright. Roxas nodded thankfully and quickly left, getting into his car. He headed over to Axel's place and hit the buzzer. To his surprise, an unfamiliar voice answered.

_Yes? _Roxas hesitated a moment before speaking.

"Uh, I'm looking for Axel." He couldn't help the worry in his voice. Who was this? That question was answered a moment later.

_He's gone. And if you're his friend you can tell him he's an asshole. I'm his landlord not a trash disposal._ The intercom flicked off as Roxas stared at it, alarmed. Gone? He hit the button again.

"Gone where?" He demanded. "Please, I need to know!" The intercom sputtered on with a burst of static.

_I don't know and I don't care. Bugger off. _Roxas winced as the intercom shut off again and didn't touch it again. Clearly he was getting nowhere. But where was Axel? And more importantly, was he alright? Roxas hesitated then got back into his car before heading back to the office. Surely someone knew what had happened.

But no one did. He questioned absolutely everyone in the office except for Xemnas and Saix and made it clear to them that he hadn't complained about Axel's advances. But not one could shed any light on where the redhead might be. His work e-mail had been deactivated and as far as Roxas knew Axel wasn't on facebook. He tried calling the redhead's cell phone number but there was no answer. Then he tried texting but Demyx was pessimistic about his chances.

"Axel only uses his blackberry for the internet. I think he has the ring tone deactivated and I'm not sure he even gets text messages." Roxas winced at that but it did sound like Axel. He'd noticed the redhead had an aversion to talking on the phone, which was weird considering he'd use a mic and headset when he played World of Warcraft. But a lot of things about Axel were strange.

"I'm worried that he might have hurt himself." Roxas fretted and blinked as Demyx laughed.

"Oh you! Axel isn't the suicidal type." Demyx actually sounded cheerful and Roxas wanted to smack him. This wasn't a laughing matter! "He's probably doing something craaaaaaazy. Don't worry, he'll be fine." That was somewhat comforting but not entirely. Roxas needed to apologize and more than that. He was feeling a nagging sense of loss without the redhead around to poke him in the shoulder or ruffle his hair.

Roxas needed to find Axel.

* * *

"Hot stuff." Axel said appreciatively as he spotted the silver haired man. He was seriously hot, with a body to die for and lovely aquamarine eyes. The clothing he was wearing was typical teenager stuff and if Axel hadn't known better he'd have thought Riku was in high school. But Riku and Sora had given their actual ages on the guild forums so he knew Riku was actually twenty-three. "Hi there! You must be Riku." He offered the silver haired man a hand and Riku smiled as he accepted it. Axel thought Riku looked very tired, but then, it was three AM in the morning.

"And you must be Axel. Welcome to Las Vegas." Riku said and Axel grinned. "Have you ever been here before?" He asked and Axel shook his head. "Sora and I will have to show you around."

"Excellent! I can't wait." Axel was pleasantly looking forward to some serious gambling and also some serious eating. Every casino had very good restaurants and it might take years but he would try them all. Not to mention all the shows. Oh, he was going to have fun here! "I hope I'm not putting you guys out too much." He said apologetically as Riku led him out of the airport. The silver haired man shook his head.

"It's no trouble really. We have a guest room that was just recently vacated. It even has its own bathroom so you won't interfere with us at all." Riku said and Axel blinked. He hadn't expected that.

"A bathroom? Nice!" Axel said in pleasure as Riku smiled faintly. Then they reached the car and he stared. "Oh wow is that a Porsche? Oh baby!" Axel promptly hugged the bright red car, making Riku wince and laugh.

"Yes, it is. Please stop molesting my car." Riku thought Axel looked ridiculous sprawled over the hood, like a parody of a model. Axel laughed and let go, sliding into the front seat.

"Now I've really got to know, what do you and Sora do for a living? Or are you idle rich?" Axel asked playfully as Riku maneuvered out of the parking lot. "Woah!" Axel quickly grabbed his seatbelt as Riku accelerated, ripping into traffic with ease and efficiency.

"Oh, this and that. Whatever shows up." Riku said easily and Axel lifted his eyebrows. That was pretty evasive. "We're private detectives."

"Wow! Really?" That immediately captured Axel's interest. "So do you do anything cool or just divorce cases?" Riku laughed softly.

"We do plenty of cool things and our fees are very high. Our last computer expert left recently though so if you're looking for a job and have the skills we need…" Riku let it trail off and smiled. "We both know you're competent but maybe not in exactly the way we need." Axel nodded. He didn't really know anything about private detecting.

"Bet I can learn! I can learn anything." Axel boasted. "And I'd love to have a Porsche. In fact, I'd give my left nut for a Porsche." The leather seats and spiffy controls were capturing his imagination. Riku laughed as he changed lanes. "Hey, is that a casino?" Axel peered out the window at a large building. Riku glanced over for a brief moment.

"That's the Stratosphere. They're not my favorite. Sora and I gamble wherever… it's the food and entertainment that bring us to a specific place. The Stratosphere has a topless vampire thing and a tribute to Michael Jackson going on right now." Axel made a face as Riku continued. "Their revolving restaurant does have an excellent view but the food is a little so-so."

"I think I'll pass. What would you recommend?" Axel listened, interested, as Riku gave him a list of some of his favorite restaurants and shows. "Cirque du Soleil? I've never seen them before. I've heard of them though."

"That's definitely something you should try. The tickets are expensive but worth it." Was Riku's opinion and Axel nodded. "For a lot of the shows you can get cut rate ones easily but generally not Cirque du Soleil." They continued chatting and Axel made plans on exactly how to max out all his credit cards. The future was just that… the future. He would live for the moment. They finally pulled up to a small house and Axel got out of the car. He couldn't see much in the dark but it looked like a very pleasant place. "Let me take that for you." Riku grabbed his suitcase before Axel could stop him and Axel shrugged, picking up his bags. He'd bought a bit of chocolate and a few souvenirs at the airport.

"Here you are. Now, I need to go to bed. See you tomorrow." Axel nodded with a smile as Riku departed for his own room then glanced his over curiously. It was a very pleasant little room with a bed, desk and a little bar fridge. Opening it he found it was full of soda and red bulls. Grinning, he took a can and opened it, taking a large swig.

"Bet the last person to stay here was a gamer." He said sagely then blinked. "Hey, I wonder if that was Muffinman?" Muffinman had been a rogue and he'd left the guild after a massive falling out between RiRi and SoSo. It suddenly occurred to Axel that maybe the falling out had occurred in real life and had nothing to do with the game. "Huh." Shrugging he went to the bathroom to take a shower. He was sure Riku and Sora couldn't possibly be as hard to work with as Xemnas.

But he would just have to wait and see.


	5. Dirty Deeds Done With Sheep

Author's Note: For people not aware of such things… as I wasn't until Tekko sent me a link… Nyotaimori does exist. And while a restaurant for it does not exist in Las Vegas there is a catering company. I'm sure you'll all be more disturbed to know that. ^_^ Now, on with the show!

"Mmm, breakfast!" Axel tucked into a bowl of fruit loops with good cheer. Sora was eating some Special K with yogurt and Riku had gone for a bit of instant oatmeal. "So, what's this job you mentioned?" Axel asked after he swallowed a mouthful of sugary cereal. Riku and Sora exchanged a glance. "What?"

"Axel, you seem like a fairly open-minded sort of person so we'll level with you. But don't talk about this or we'll have to kill you." Axel smiled but then it slowly faded as Riku gave him a serious look. Sora hastily spoke up.

"Not really! But we might have to blackmail you like we did Tidus. Um. Yeah. You knew him as Muffinman?" Sora added as Axel gave him a quizzical look and Riku nodded.

"Now I'm really curious. Come on guys, spill." Axel said encouragingly. What could they be doing? "Are you hit men for the mob? Gigolos? Come on, I'm dying here!" Sora choked at that and Riku smiled before eating a bit of his oatmeal.

"Actually, we sometimes are the second, sort of. Technically we're private detectives but we're very expensive ones. We specialize in things that are quasi-legal and generally sleazy." Axel listened as he ate, fascinated. "We do industrial espionage of various sorts, stealing items that have been stolen and we sometimes tempt spouses… usually young trophy wives whose husbands suspect them of infidelities." Riku sounded a little pained and Axel grinned. "If you decide to join us you'll be on the industrial espionage end of things. That involves gathering information on competitors, mostly. Do you know how to phish?"

"Of course. That's easy." Axel was a touch surprised at the question. "I even came up with a program once although I never used it." He admitted. "I don't know if it would still work. It was a middle-man program, it would allow access to various banking websites but then… um, nevermind actually. It was just a programming challenge." Axel aborted his explanation as he realized Sora was looking at him wide-eyed. But Riku was grinning.

"Perfect! We don't do anything fragrantly illegal though." Riku cautioned him. Axel blinked at him, a bit puzzled.

"I thought you said you stole stuff?" That sounded very illegal to him. Riku shook his head.

"Only things that have already been stolen. If someone has proof of ownership stealing an item back is not a crime." Riku said, then he smiled. "Although we would steal something for real if someone offered us enough. So far no one has." Their completely illegal services were more expensive than the quasi-legal. Axel ate some more fruit loops before he thought of another question.

"Could I get sent to jail for this? Not that I object to jail, really, I just want to be sure." Then he paused thoughtfully. "Although that might mean surprise buttsecks in the shower. Yuck."

"Oh come on, you know you want it." Sora said with a cheerful grin and Axel choked. "And at least he'd be clean!" The redhead laughed, polishing off his fruit loops and offering the sugar milk to the cat that had jumped onto the table. Riku picked her up and put her on the floor so Axel put the bowl on the floor as well. Pretty soon she was lapping it up and spreading little droplets of pink milk across the floor. "That's Shell by the way." Axel glanced down at the cat and realized they must have named her that because she was a tortoiseshell. He reached down to stroke her back but Shell was far too preoccupied with the milk to care. "She's a good cat but if you pet her she'll be onto you like peanut butter on jam."

"Good thing I like cats!" Axel said with a grin. "Okay. So you want me to handle the computer end of your dirty deeds?" Sora and Riku both nodded. "I'm so in. I've always wanted to be a criminal mastermind! Now, how much am I getting paid?" He figured it had to be more than what Xemnas offered –

"We share the proceeds equally after expenses. Usually that's about a hundred thousand a year." Axel stared at Riku as the silver haired man went on, oblivious. "Expenses include the mortgage, utilities and a fee we pay to my father every month. He refers us plenty of clients." Riku shrugged, a little self-consciously. "He's the one who provided a lot of the skills and ideas behind what we do." Axel made a mental note to ask Riku about his dad later. Right now his mind was on the main point.

"A hundred thousand a year? Are you serious?" He demanded and Riku nodded. "I would totally risk surprise buttsex for that. I'm so in. When do I start?"

"Right away. And you can start by going over Sora's laptop. We think Tidus did something to it to spite him." Riku said with a slightly pained look. "It won't get on the internet at all."

"Okay!" Soon Axel was ensconced with Sora's computer, cheerfully fixing up the settings and removing a very persistent virus it had been infected with. He briefly wondered exactly what kind of falling out they had had with Tidus aka Muffinman but decided it didn't matter. Muffin had been nice enough but he was nothing like Axel.

He was sure they would get along fine.

* * *

"So today we get to meet Axel's replacement." Zexion said with a grim edge and Demyx looked at him worriedly as Roxas hid his face behind a water cup. Most of the office wasn't really blaming him for Axel's summary firing but they weren't very friendly either. He didn't like to be reminded.

Roxas had tried very hard to find Axel but it had proven nearly impossible. The only avenue left was buying a copy of World of Warcraft and searching for him there. Roxas still remembered the server, Suramar, but it would still be a very difficult and tedious chore. If only he'd known the name Axel used in WoW it would be easier, but he didn't. So his only hope was to encounter someone who knew Axel's real name or Axel himself. It seemed like a very faint hope.

"How much is Xemnas paying this guy Zex?" Demyx asked and for a moment it looked like Zexion would refuse to answer. He wasn't supposed to discuss the payroll with the employees, likely because there would be a mutiny if they ever found out how much Saix was pulling down. Xemnas most definitely played favorites. But finally Zexion answered.

"Forty three thousand a year was the agreed upon figure." Roxas bit his tongue but it was hard. That was on the low side for a network admin although given the economy it might be acceptable. However, for a network admin and a mechanical expert? Not good. From the look on Zexion's face he knew that. "He's a network administrator." Roxas quickly understood the qualifier. Zexion didn't expect the new hire to be able to fulfill Axel's building maintenance duties at all. From the anxious look on Demyx's face he understood that too.

"Is he hiring someone for building maintenance? Or hiring a firm?" Demyx There were firms who handled the kind of work Axel had done although they were fairly expensive. There was silence for a moment and Demyx paled. "He's not hiring _anyone?_ Zex!"

"He expects the new hire to take over his duties in that area." Zexion smiled coldly. "I believe the job was advertised as a network admin position, however." Roxas wanted to groan and took a deep drink of his water. Of course it was. There were more network admins out of work in this economy than mechanical engineers. Really good mechanics were always expensive… unless they were completely clueless like Axel. "The person they – ah." Zexion fell silent and Demyx and Roxas both turned to look.

Xemnas was walking towards them, leading the new hire. Roxas and Demyx both examined him and Roxas wasn't impressed. He was a handsome man with blonde hair and numerous piercings. His dark purple suit was very well cut and Roxas wondered what exactly he'd been doing before this. The only thing he was certain of was that this man was not going to be wearing Axel's goggles and crouching down with a blow torch. Keeping the servers running, perhaps, but not that.

"Roxas. I was hoping to find you here." Xemnas smiled at him and Roxas wished he'd learned to vanish. What could the older man want with him? "Since you're very well acquainted with Axel's duties I was hoping you would be able to show Luxord around."

"Um, sure." Roxas said with a forced smile. He'd only been here a bit over a month. Did no one else in the company have any idea what Axel did? No, that wasn't true, Zexion knew. But the CFO had his own work to do. "I would be glad to." Not precisely the truth but he would certainly do it. Xemnas nodded and left Luxord with them.

"Hello. I'm Luxord." He and Roxas shook hands. Then Demyx butted in, offering him a hand.

"I'm Demyx!" They shook and Demyx asked innocently. "Say, have you ever cleaned out air ventilation ducts?" Luxord looked a little taken aback at the question.

"No. Why?" He asked and Roxas closed his eyes in mental pain as Demyx smiled with what had to be false cheerfulness. Zexion wasn't bothering. He looked grim despite Luxord's easy charm.

"Nothing, just curious. Well, I'll see you guys later, I need to work on something." Roxas was sure that something was his resume. Roxas tosses his cup into the garbage as Demyx and Zexion both departed and showed Luxord to his new office. As the other man exclaimed at the mess Roxas silently decided he was going to buy a copy of World of Warcraft tonight.

Maybe if things went far enough South he could convince Axel to come back and convince Xemnas to rehire him. Or maybe Zexion could. Or… maybe he could just see what Axel was up to. It wasn't like he owed anything to this place.

He would just have to wait and see.

* * *

_Brrrring! _Axel looked up from his work and grabbed the phone before Riku could reach it.

"This is Dirty Deeds Incorporated, where making your problems into no problem is our specialty! Axel speaking. What dastardly deed can we do for you do today?" Axel answered the phone cheerfully. There was a pause at the other end.

_Uh, I think I have the wrong number._ Came the hesitatent reply and Axel grinned.

"Oh, you must be looking for Helga's House of Pain, where they do dastardly deeds TO you. Just dial nine instead of four – hello? Hello?" Axel looked at the dead receiver for a moment then shrugged, shutting it off. There was a soft laugh and Axel tossed Riku a wink.

"Axel, stop scaring off the customers." Riku admonished him but the silver haired man was smiling and Axel knew why. Their real customers took the occasional odd greeting in stride and just asked for Riku. They were aware that the people they were hiring were a touch eccentric. "You're coming with us tonight, remember. Try not to get an obvious boner." Axel winced at that, glancing down at his pants.

"Do I have to?" He was not looking forward to this. Axel really wanted to meet Riku's dad but this just wasn't the way he would have picked. "Couldn't we meet him over coffee or something? Why a weird fetish restaurant?" He asked and Riku sighed.

"Because my dad has weird fetishes. And if you tell him I said that I'll deny it then beat the shit out of you." Axel almost laughed but held it back. Riku sounded serious.

He was fitting in pretty well with Riku and Sora. The house had turned out to be a very beautiful piece of desert architecture, full of warm colors and decorated with colorful cacti. The landscaping was mostly stone and cactuses, which rather matched the house and suited Axel just fine. He hated mowing lawns. The job had turned out to be quite fun. Axel was having a blast trying to crack all kinds of security measures and also cobbling together gear for Sora and Riku. They'd been surprised at his mechanical abilities but very appreciative. Personality wise, there had been no real surprises. In World of Warcraft he'd known SoSo to be a laid back, easygoing sort while RiRi was very organized and could be intense when they were going for a kill. They were pretty much the same in real life.

"I'm not kidding Axel." Riku said, and Axel blinked at the echo of his thoughts. "We still need my dad. Without him our income would drop off dramatically." Axel eyed the silver haired man curiously as he picked up the phone and placed a call. "Hello. I'm calling about an Alfred Schnider…" Axel listened as Riku carefully cajoled information out of a telephone representative. There was an art to getting information without the proper authorization and Riku had it down to a science. This time, however, it failed and Riku politely said goodbye before hanging up. "Hm. Can't win them all." Riku noted something down and Axel tried to glance over his shoulder. "I'll have to ask Sora to help out. He does a convincing girl." The agent had asked Riku if he was either Alfred or Matilda. Sora would be trying next as Matilda.

"Yeah, that's freaky. Say, is your dad a nice guy?" Axel asked curiously. He really knew nothing about Riku's dad. Riku paused for a moment.

"He was an okay dad. Gone most of the time. If you mean is he a nice person…" Riku sighed. "Axel, let me put it this way. In Japan the kind of restaurant we're going to be visiting is associated with organized crime."

"Oh. So he's not a nice guy." Axel suddenly grinned, leaning back in his chair. "I've always wanted to meet a mobster! Does he have people wacked?" Riku winced again and tossed a pencil at him. Axel grabbed it easily, tucking it behind his ear. "Or send them horses' heads? Or –"

"Please stop. You're going to get us all in trouble." Riku shook his head. "If dad hadn't demanded you be there… Axel, be respectful, okay? I know it's hard but you can do it." Axel widened his eyes deliberately.

"Me? Be disrespectful to the Godfather? Perish the thought! I wouldn't like a gift of concrete boots." Then he spoke more seriously. "I'll be good, promise." Axel didn't want to cause problems for Riku and Sora. Riku nodded. He didn't have much choice but to accept Axel's reassurances. The redhead went back to work as Riku went to find Sora. Soon the brunette was pretending to be a young girl and having fairly good success at weaseling out information.

An hour before they were set to leave, Axel began his preparations. A quick shower, shave and a bit of blow drying for his hair and he was almost ready. Pulling on his new clothes Axel smiled for a moment, fingering the fabric. He'd never owned a silk dress shirt before. This one had a very warm golden color that made his hair look particularly good. The khaki pants Riku had picked out for him looked quite respectable. Axel quickly snagged his brass necklace and the look was complete.

"Hey Axel, you ready? Wow, you look great!" Sora paused to admire him and Axel grinned, examining the brunette. He was wearing stark black and red, black pants and a black shirt with blood red embroidery in the shape of a Chinese dragon. It was a bit surprising but it looked very good on him.

"So do you. I envy you the shirt." He admired the dragon for a moment. "I have so much trouble wearing red." It had to exactly match his hair or he looked horrible. Axel had decided a long time ago that it wasn't worth the effort. Blue jeans and a dress shirt were fine.

"You should try orange and gold. You look great in that – oh hey Riku!" Sora said cheerfully as his friend and lover stepped out. Riku was wearing a light blue dress shirt with elegant diamond cufflinks and grey pants. "You look great too." Axel politely looked away as Sora snuggled up to Riku and the silver hair murmured something sweet and intimate in his ear. For a moment he felt a pang of longing for Roxas, then pushed the feeling away. "Ready to go?" Riku asked and Axel nodded.

"Ready willing and able." He said agreeably and they all went to the car. The Porsche purred to life at Riku's touch and he pulled out with a screech of tired. "Man, you are death on this poor car." Axel said sadly and Riku laughed as Sora shook his head.

"I agree." Sora said immediately. "You need some driving lessons."

"Oh bullocks!" Riku promptly replied and Axel had to laugh.

"You also need to stop watching BBC." He teased the silver hair, who snorted and lifted his nose in the air.

"You two just don't know good entertainment. Or good driving. I'll have you know I've taken lessons with a stunt driver." Riku said with mock haughtiness. Axel winced as he took a turn very fast. The car was under perfect control but it was still enough to give him grey hairs.

"You drive like it too. This isn't a stunt, Riku." Sora said tartly but the silver hair just ignored him. Axel closed his eyes and tried to meditate for the rest of the ride. Very quickly, they reached their destination. Much too quickly really but that was the one good aspect of Riku's hair raising driving… it never took them long to reach where they wanted to go. Axel looked at the restaurant curiously as a valet took their car. It was very beautiful, all black lacquer with red accents. The lighting was Japanese paper lamps and his first impression was of subdued elegance.

He hadn't expected it to be this fancy. Online checking had informed him that despite the way American restaurateurs were trying to promote the practice, this type of restaurant was actually heavily stigmatized in Japan. Usually associated with organized crime and seedy sex clubs, it wasn't mainstream. Not very many American restaurants had succeeded with it either, but this was Vegas, where anything goes. Axel just hoped this wasn't going to be too gross. He found women somewhat attractive, especially when he was drunk, but he didn't fancy this concept at all.

Riku gave their name to the hostess and she nodded, leading them to a table with a smile. Axel swallowed as he saw they'd already gotten started. A beautiful, naked woman was lying on the elegant table. Unobtrusive padding helped to make her comfortable on the hard surface and her genitals were obscured with orchid blooms. Her breasts, arms and stomach were decorated with tea leaves and sushi. For just a moment Axel imagined Roxas in a position like that, smiling up at him and opening his lips for a piece of sushi…

Then the fantasy shattered. This woman wasn't doing anything sweet or intimate. She was, perhaps, meditating. There was no particular expression on her face and to Axel it looked like they would be dining off a body fresh from the morgue. Pushing aside that unsettling thought he took his seat and looked at Riku's father for the first time. He was a mature man with long, flowing silver hair. He was very handsome in a cold way and he picked up the sushi with careful precision, eyes lingering on the model. There was another man sitting beside him and Axel immediately pegged him as Riku's brother. The family resemblance was obvious.

"Riku. You're two minutes late." His father looked up from the model and Axel swallowed at the intensity in those cold blue eyes. Riku seemed completely unfazed.

"For the rest of the world that's perfectly on time, father." Riku smiled as he picked up his chopsticks and selected a piece of sushi. "This is my new friend, Axel. Axel, meet my father, Sephiroth and my brother, Loz." Riku introduced them formally and Axel nodded politely. Sephiroth nodded back, taking a piece of sashimi.

"Please, help yourself." He said and Axel picked up his chopsticks. Fortunately he was very good with them. The last thing he wanted to do was poke the naked lady. "So tell me, Axel. What are you doing for my son?" Sephiroth asked smoothly and Axel paused to chew his sushi a moment before speaking.

"Well, right now I'm working on testing out some security features." Axel said glibly. Riku had cautioned him to use euphemisms for his work. "They seem to be doing poorly." By that he meant that his attacks were meeting with a fair amount of success. Sephiroth chuckled.

"I'm sure they'll do better in the future. Security systems must always learn to adapt." He commented. "So, you enjoy your work?"

"Oh yes. It's much better than my last job." Axel said truthfully. Sephiroth lifted an eyebrow.

"And what was your last job?" Axel found himself being grilled thoroughly by Riku's father. He did his best to answer honestly but without dwelling on his problems with Xemnas. Riku had told him that Sephiroth didn't like to hear anything like whining. Finally Riku's father seemed to be satisfied. "Well, I'm sure you'll be an excellent fit here." He idly ran a chopstick over the model's rib and Axel had to hide a wince as she flinched ever so slightly. "Now, Riku. How is your work for Asidro coming?" Axel gratefully concentrated on his food, being very careful not to poke the living tray.

In a lot of ways it was a pleasant evening. The sushi and the liquor were good, but Axel was still very glad when it was over and they all escaped to the Porsche. Riku put it into gear and they were into traffic before anyone spoke.

"So what did you think of nyotaimori? Naked sushi?" There was an edge to Riku's voice that Axel didn't understand. But he didn't have to think at all about his answer.

"I didn't like it. She looked like a body from the morgue." He answered immediately. "And your dad seemed to like, um… teasing her." He would have said tormenting, but Riku was Sephiroth's son. Still, it was the model's job to stay perfectly still. It wasn't nice for the guest to deliberately make it more difficult and Axel was sure that was what Sephiroth had been doing. Riku glanced at him sharply then seemed to relax a touch.

"Good. I was afraid you would like it. Tidus did." Axel couldn't think of a thing to say to that. He glanced into the backseat and saw that Sora was smiling, relieved. "You seemed a bit interested at first." Axel flushed as he remembered.

"Oh, that! Um, I was just imagining a guy I used to know in a similar position. But I imagined him taking the sushi out of my chopsticks… it would be sort of hot with a lover, you know?" Riku chuckled softly and Sora smiled.

"It would be. Sora and I did something similar, once, but it was with fruit and chocolate syrup." Riku said and Sora laughed.

"It was fun! Especially when you licked off my nipples." He said cheerfully and Axel choked. "I'd never do it with sushi though. Why bother? Fruit is so much easier."

"I suppose!" Axel laughed and they chatted about various amorous techniques on the way home. He really liked Sora and Riku and they were both totally gone on each other. For a moment, Axel wistfully wished he could find someone like that. Roxas intruded into his thoughts for a moment but he shook his head, pushing the image away.

As much as he'd liked Roxas there was nothing between them and there never would be.


	6. Insert Witty Title Here

Roxas whistled to himself as he played World of Warcraft.

The game was fun but things were going even more slowly than he'd anticipated. He'd tried just asking people in the beginning area but that was no good. Someone with a lot of experience in the game had whispered him and told him he really needed to reach a major city and spam trade chat. They had also asked what faction Axel was and Roxas had been forced to admit he didn't know. So right from the start his chances of hitting someone who knew the redhead were fifty/fifty. Roxas was willing to bet he was Horde though, so he'd rolled a troll hunter.

It had taken a lot of time but he was finally reaching Orgrimmar. He ran into the city, the little scorpion he'd tamed following loyally, and began to type.

_Hey! I'm looking for someone named Axel Rimer IRL. I think he probably plays Horde and I know he's on this server. Does anyone know him? We've fallen out of touch._

_Do you know his toon's name? _Someone named Milkme asked. Roxas shook his head.

_No. I wish I did._

_Sorry. No idea._ Roxas sighed as a bunch of negatives came up and settled in to repeat his message every fifteen minutes. If he didn't find Axel on the Horde side in a couple days he'd switch and roll an Alliance toon. This had to be the worst way to find someone ever, but the only other option he could think of was hiring a private investigator. He wasn't that desperate yet. Searching online was free… until his free trial expired, anyway. Then he would just have to see.

Work the next day had an interesting twist.

"Roxas?" Zexion looked less than amused about something. Roxas only hoped it wasn't him. "Do you know how to clean out the air filtration units?"

"Huh?" Roxas blinked at him, recalling all the work Axel had done on those. The redhead had cheerfully mentioned regularly cleaning the screens to prevent a buildup of lint. "I – I think I could. It's not hard. Why?" He asked and Zexion grimaced.

"There's a popping sound near Larxene's office. It's beginning to annoy her and Luxord refuses to do anything that might dirty his suit." Zexion sounded faintly exasperated and Roxas couldn't help but snicker.

"Right." Roxas hesitated. "I'll need the tools. They should be in Luxord's office if he hasn't cleaned them out." That thought worried him. The new Network Admin had a mania for neatness and had spent a long time cleaning up Axel's office and sorting through all the papers. Still, if he'd removed the tools Luxord would surely know where he'd put them. They went together to the blonde's office and Roxas blinked at the condition of it. It was spotlessly clean now and there were a few trophies on the shelf, replacing Axel's tools and the little figure print he'd had. Roxas looked at them curiously and saw they were almost all for golf. "Hi Luxord! Do you know where the tools are? They would have been up on that shelf." Luxord looked up from his work and Roxas noticed the one page on his desk was the list of passwords Axel had written out.

"Oh, that junk? I put it in box in the storage room." He said vaguely, frowning at his monitor. "Zexion? Do you have any idea what this Bitchspy program is? There's no password for it." Zexion hesitated as Roxas snickered to himself. With that name it probably pertained to Larxene.

"That's nothing important. Just delete it." He said briskly and Roxas wondered what he knew about it. Possibly a lot, Zexion was just as fond of the Marketing diva as Axel had been. "How is your progress coming on everything else?" Luxord had been experiencing quite a few problems with the home grown programs on the server. Axel's list of passwords had gotten him access but the redhead's notes had been far too cryptic to give him any real guidance on the programs themselves. He was learning them by trial and error, mostly error.

"Fairly well. Unfortunately the payroll system is written in undocumented spaghetti code. How long have you been using it?" Luxord asked with a frown and Zexion winced. Axel had often complained about that system but he'd never been able to convince Xemnas to migrate them to something better.

"Forever. Will it need to be replaced?" That would be expensive but Zexion knew Axel had often needed to correct trivial errors in that system. If Luxord couldn't figure it out the errors would soon be beyond trivial. Luxord looked ambivalent.

"Give me time and I'll see if I can figure it out. But it's going to take time." He cautioned them and Zexion nodded grimly. He could correct the errors by hand for a time, but that would be time consuming and not particularly easy. Roxas and Zexion quickly found the tools in the storage room. Luxord had stored them neatly, like he did everything.

"Um, does Xemnas know he's just not doing any of the building maintenance?" Roxas asked the CFO quietly. Zexion frowned then shook his head as Roxas found the tools he needed.

"I'm not certain. He should know when he gets the first report." Luxord's report would cover the servers and other systems but not the building. "Or when he asks Luxord to repair something." Zexion wasn't actually sure that would happen though. The other staff had asked Axel to repair things far more than Xemnas. Roxas shook his head and took the tools to Larxene's office.

"Why, how perfect! You could fit right in." The marketing maven cooed at him as he began removing the screens for a cleaning. Roxas glared up at her and she smiled sweetly at him. "Mind you don't get stuck. So are you angling for Axel's job?" She asked and Roxas snorted.

"I don't aim to be overworked and underpaid." He said briskly, using the brush on the filter. He wasn't sure that was how you were supposed to do it and Axel had mentioned something about dunking them in a cleaning solution at least once a year, but he didn't know what the solution was. Larxene laughed raucously.

"That's what you are right now, isn't it?" Roxas frowned faintly but admitted to himself that she was right. His intern duties had turned out to be much harder than he'd ever anticipated. Larxene went back to her work, to his relief, and soon the blonde was done. He was taking the tools back to the storage room when Demyx stopped him.

"Roxas? I don't suppose you know how to fix a busted toilet?" Demyx said, anxious. "The second one in the men's room isn't working again." Roxas was tempted to just say no but the truth was if the problem was pretty basic he might be able to fix it.

"I'll take a look. No promises." Roxas said. As he walked with Demyx to the washroom he wished, not for the first time, that Axel was still here.

He missed the crazy redhead.

* * *

"Zut alores! I have missed one!" Riku looked pained as Axel speared a piece of shrimp on the tip of his knife and ate it. They were at a very fancy, upscale bar and tapas restaurant but that wasn't deterring the redhead in the least.

"Is that supposed to be a French accent? Because it's bloody awful." Riku commented as Axel ate a scallop. The redhead grinned at him.

"Yep. Haven't the two of you seen the Little Mermaid?" Axel sighed as Riku shook his head and Sora looked blank. "Philistines. So where is this girl we're supposed to seduce?" Sora laughed and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Riku and I will seduce her. You just be the designated driver!" Axel's job was to drive them home after all this was over. They would both need to drink quite a bit to make nice and also get in the mood for a threesome. Axel nodded and watched as his two friends left the bar to mingle. They needed to make the approach casual. The target they were aiming for was a young, beautiful trophy wife to one of Sephiroth's business partners. Axel wasn't sure exactly what would happen if she turned out to be the unfaithful sort but he didn't think it would be pretty. Hopefully it would be divorce court but he wasn't entirely sure.

Axel decided to forget about it and concentrate on his food. He had five little tapas platters and they were absolutely delicious. Little meatballs in a delicious garlic sauce, a plate of olives and cheese, some finely sliced gourmet deli meats and of course the shrimp and scallop dish… what more did you need? Mushroom ravioli? Of course! Axel grinned as he ordered more food and pop. It was all going on expenses so he might as well do his best to enter a food coma. He wasn't even close when Sora and Riku stumbled up. Riku was flushed and rumpled while Sora was tipsy and laughing at everything. Axel had to steady the brunette and blinked as Sora nuzzled his throat.

"You're so nice Axel. So much nicer than Tidus was." Sora crooned and Axel wondered. Was Sora just drunk or was this an invitation?

"Yeah, well, you're drunk." Axel said as he firmly disengaged the brunette. He liked Sora well enough but he wasn't going to mess up his business relationship with him or Riku for the pleasures of the moment. One of the more mature thoughts he'd ever had and as soon as he realized that Axel was tempted to take it back. He hated being mature. Still, being unemployed again would really suck. "Come on guys, let's go home." He had a feeling Riku was every bit as tipsy as Sora, just not showing it much. He'd seemed mostly amused by Sora's cuddling. Riku slid an arm around Sora's waist and whispered something in his ear as Axel led them to the car. He sighed at the giggling from Sora as he flicked open the doors. "Drunk people are so annoying when you're not drunk." Axel mumbled to himself.

"We're annoying?" Sora said it like it was the most tragic thing in the world. Axel hesitated a moment then looked into the backseat. Sora was curled up beside Riku and looking at him with big blue, sad eyes.

"Nah. You're cute SoSo." Sora immediately cheered up at the mention of his online nickname. "So how did it go?"

"Let me put it this way. We went through four condoms." Riku yawned and tugged on his shirt. "And we got some reeeeally good pictures. Although that thing SoSo did with his tongue probably wasn't necessary." That got Sora giggling again and Axel shook his head. "I'm so tired. Wake me up when we get home."

"Sure." Axel glanced in his mirror, smiling as he saw the two of them curled together like a pair of puppies. Then he turned his attention back to the road.

He really liked these guys. Although a certain blonde just kept haunting his thoughts…

* * *

The first Roxas knew there was a problem was when he heard yelling from Xemnas' office. It was indistinct and good sense told him to stay away. But curiosity was far stronger and he finally went to see what was happening.

"…I quit!" Luxord's voice rang out over the office and Roxas winced as the blonde stormed out of Xemnas' office. Zexion was right behind him, clearly trying to soothe the irate network admin. "No, I won't!" Luxord snapped as Zexion murmured something to him. "I've had enough of being asked to do impossible things! The spaghetti code is bad enough but I know _nothing_ about roofing! Impossible!" Zexion looked like he was getting a headache as Luxord stormed into his office and began packing his things. Roxas blinked, stunned. Was he serious? But it certainly looked like he was.

"Luxord, please." Zexion spotted Roxas and beckoned him over. Roxas hesitated before following them into Luxord's office. Zexion shut the door before speaking. "I'm trying to convince him to hire Axel back as a building engineer. Once he's back then –"

"Xemnas can fire me?" Luxord snapped as Roxas wished he was somewhere else. What did Zexion want him for anyway? "He won't need me when you have your boy wonder back!"

"Axel should have an assistant anyway." Zexion continued determinedly as Luxord looked ready to explode. "And system administrator and building engineer should be separate positions. The fact that Axel did both only indicates that he was overworked and underpaid."

"How are you going to convince Xemnas to hire him back?" Roxas asked as Luxord seemed to mull it over. "If we can even find him?" Roxas added. He still wasn't having any luck with World of Warcraft. Some people had been threatening to report him for spamming trade chat and he'd had to cut down to once a half hour. Zexion smiled at him in a way that was rather alarming.

"I'm not too sure about finding him. We can hire a private investigator if necessary. But the thing about hiring him back… That would be a task for you." Zexion said smoothly and Roxas blinked.

"For me?" He bit his lip, wondering what the CFO was getting at. Zexion examined him a moment thoughtfully before laying out his plan.

"Xemnas is incapable of admitting when he's wrong. However, he's perfectly capable of rewriting the past." Zexion paused a moment then shrugged. "Most of us are. If we find Axel and convince him to give this another chance, then you speak to Xemnas and tell him this was all a misunderstanding and you want to retract your complaint, he might be willing to do it. Although I'll have to convince him to make room in the budget for a network admin and a building engineer." Zexion sounded like he wasn't looking forward to that at all, but Roxas didn't care. He felt a quick flash of outrage.

"I never complained in the first place!" He said hotly. That still hurt a bit. Yes, he'd been ticked at Axel but he hadn't been ticked enough to go to Xemnas about it! In fact, Roxas had been seriously considering dating the redhead. Now he wasn't sure Axel would want to date him at all even if he came back and it was Xemnas' fault. Zexion sighed, rubbing his face for a moment.

"Yes, I know." Luxord watched them both, fascinated, and it occurred to Roxas that he probably hadn't heard all the gossip on how Axel had departed. It was old news. To everyone else anyway. "But if we position this as your fault he'll be able to hire Axel back without admitting he was wrong." Zexion said candidly and Roxas frowned, thinking about it. "I'll make sure you get a good reference if he doesn't hire you."

"He probably won't." Roxas didn't think there was really room for him here, unless one of Larxene's subordinates left. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of working under Larxene anyway. For a moment he was tempted to tell Zexion to forget about it. What did he owe this place? But then it occurred to him that if this worked, Axel would be back. Roxas swallowed at the thought of that one kiss they'd shared, the way Axel's eyes seemed to glow when he was excited, the crazy way he could get everything done so fast just to find time to slack. He wanted to see Axel again. "Alright. I'll do it." He said firmly and Zexion looked relieved. Luxord snorted and crossed his arms.

"Well, I'll give it a few weeks. But tell him to stop bothering me about the bloody roof. Everything I know about roofing can be written on the back of a plate, in very big writing." The blonde man groused.

"It would read, 'keeps rain off'?" Roxas suggested and Luxord managed a short laugh.

"Pretty much. Now both of you, get out. If I'm staying I have spaghetti code to look at." Zexion and Roxas quickly vacated the office. Neither of them wanted to hear about the payroll system. Luxord was actually making good progress with it, or so he claimed, but he still groused all the time about the intricacies involved.

Now all they needed to do was find Axel.


End file.
